Hill's Prescription Diet i/d Low Fat Digestive Care Dog Food review

Ingredients, as declared: Meat and animal derivatives (chicken 3%), cereals, various sugars, derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals, vegetables (0.8%), eggs and egg derivatives, oils and fats, seeds, fruit. Highly digestible ingredients: Pork liver, chicken, maize starch, rice, dried eggs, vegetable oil.

Meat and animal derivatives lead with chicken declared at 3%, then cereals, various sugars, derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals, vegetables at 0.8%, eggs and egg derivatives, oils and fats, seeds and fruit. The separate highly digestible list names pork liver, chicken, maize starch, rice, dried eggs and vegetable oil, so pork sits alongside chicken on the animal side even though only chicken carries a percentage.

Various sugars appear as an entry in their own right. The term identifies no source, and in a loaf like this sugars of that kind are generally doing a texture and palatability job rather than a nutritional one. Whether it has any bearing on your dog's case is one to put to the practice.

The pack declares fat at 1.9%, and that works back to 8.8% of dry matter. The recipe is built to hold fat that low. It is not a gap in the food. Protein reads 5.0% as fed and 23.1% dry, crude fibre 0.4% and 1.9%, ash 1.4% and 6.5%, with moisture declared at 78.4%. Carbohydrate is estimated at 12.9% as fed and 59.7% of dry matter, and energy lands at 79 kcal per 100g.

Potassium alginate is listed as a technological additive at 5g, a seaweed derived gelling agent that gives the loaf its set. The nutritional additives are dosed at 9.5mg iron, 0.3mg iodine, 0.9mg copper, 2.1mg manganese and 30.3mg zinc, and calcium works back to 0.88% of dry matter.

Because the energy figure is where it is, the guide asks for a lot of food. It gives 104 grams a day at 1kg, 459 grams at 10kg and 1168 grams for a 50kg dog, with a 15kg dog landing near 1067 grams. Those are the packet's numbers, and the portion your dog is actually meant to have is set by the vet who put him on the diet.

It is sold in 156g and 354g packs.